With the release of ASICs litecoin has a huge opportunity to grab up tons more hashing power, but may do so only if we make conversion as painless as possible. Therefore, I give you this.
New version calls home for statistical collection, the only info sent is the GPU you entered, trying to make sure people are entering the correct GPU names. I will update the source code download in the morning to reflect this! Compiled Binaries (what you want if you aren't sure what you want):
Compiled BinarySource code:
Source CodeThis program also works on Novacoin (NVC) pools. Mine Litecoin though.
Reliability: I have had it had this program running (2 instances, as I have two working cards) for over 2 hours so far, no problems. Will update as time goes by.
Hello! This weekend I decided to invest a bit of time and make a GUIMiner for Litecoin. Here are some screenshots to kick it off:
Tired of finding out GPU Concurrency information, or struggling to get cgminer to point to the right place, or don't even know what Thread Concurrency or shaders are? Maybe you just want to mine with your NVidia card. All you have to know is what GPU you have.
The GUIWrapper itself is written in Java, but as it relies on the core of a windows-compiled .exe binary of reaper, it will only mine on Windows.
Downloads are at the end of the post, for both source code and a compiled version. Remember, it is always good practice to decompile any random programs you get from the internet (though I promise I am doing nothing malicious), or even better: compile from source!
Planned Features:-Multiple mining support in one window (optional)
-Miner will run a "server" and you will be able to control miners remotely: You could have 8 rigs all running this software and then your laptop could connect to them and control their settings and view their stats, or you could port-forward each one out of your network and manage them from school/work.
-Custom intensity, worksize, etc. settings for more advanced users
-NVidia lookup tables
-Cleaner interface
-Restart-on-crash, improvements for reliability
-Anonymous, optional statistical data (where on my website I would have a counter that shows the current hashrate ran by my program)
-Integration with large pools (and small pools, if you guys are interested) (Basically, I would make a special version for pools that are interested, and it would have all their settings and API pull data hard-coded in)
-Optional console output area (maybe replace the hashrate+meter area with a console when a box is checked?)
FAQ:1.) How do I use it?Simply download the program, and extract MinerGUI.zip to a folder. Then enter the folder MinerGUI that it extracts to, and double-click on Miner.GUI.exe.
2.) It's made in java, why am I opening a .exe?You will notice that the .exe is the only file that appears in the folder (unless you have "Show hidden folders" enabled in Folder Options). The .exe serves two main purposes: Show it is a Windows-only program, and allow custom icons. If you show hidden folders you can run the LitecoinGUIMiner.jar instead if you prefer.
3.) It asks for a pool url and a port, where do I get those?Simply go to any of the pools (litecoinpool.org, pool-x.eu, etc.) and sign up for an account. Under a place like "Help" should be all of this information.
4.) What all does the program do? To get slightly technical, the Java program acts as a wrapper for reaper as well as GUI frontend to control an object which in turn holds a process object of the reaper session. AKA it mines. The wrapper itself doesn't do ANY network communication currently (may implement a feature in the future where it will send back statistical data about your current hashrate, and then display the total hash rate held by all instances of this program, but not today . . . )
5.) How do I mine with multiple GPUs, or dual-GPU cards?You can mine with multiple GPUs or dual-GPU cards by launching the program multiple times. This is for two reasons: higher reliability (each process doesn't depend on a central process working correctly), and it was easier to implement. When it asks for the device number, just make sure to put device number 0 for the first card, 1 for the second (or second on-board card in a 5970, 6990, or 7990), etc.
6.) Can it mine with 7970s? I wish I knew. It has the settings correct (I think), however I only have a 5970 and a 5850 to mine on, so I haven't been able to test the very fickle 79xx series
.
7.) Is it free? Yes, like pretty much all other mining programs, it is free for your use. As well, you are free to recompile, change, and distribute it. I made it because I have a large investment in Litecoins and I would love to see them succeed both because I am heavily invested and because the currency in itself is a good idea. As well, I love free stuff.
8.) How reliable is it? I have not done extensive testing, however it ran awesome in my limited tests.
9.) I found a bug! Where do I report it? Do you have a github?I don't currently have a github or gist of this, simply post the bug below. If you propose a fix, please post that too, and I'll implement it (if it works).
10.) Eww why reaper? I chose reaper as it was easier to wrap and parse its output, and I wanted to include support for NVidia cards.
11.) Can I mine with my NVidia card? Yes! The program asks you for what card you have, so if you have a ATi5970, you would enter "5970". However, if you have a NVidia, just enter the thread concurrency you want to use instead of the GPU name. For example, if I was mining with a 560Ti, I might put in 6144 for the name, as since it can't find an ATI6144 it will just run with 6144 thread concurrency.
12.) Can I specify thread concurrency? As explained above, if you want to do a custom number for thread concurrency, just enter that thread concurrency when it asks for the GPU name. For example, if I have a 5970 but I want to mine with 12288 Thread Conc, I would just enter 12288. Since the program can't find a card named 12288 in its lookup table, it defaults to using that for its Thread Concurrency.
13.) I looked through your code, and it's very messy, why?I threw this together and there are parts of un-implemented features in the code that will be used later.
14.) Do you plan on integrating this into any pools?If any pool owners want to get in contact with me about implementing this into your pool (aka have the host and port hard-coded in and pull API data to display alongside hashrate) I'm open to it. However, currently there is NO pool integration setup.
15.) Can I use this in a commercial environment? The nature of mining itself lends to a commercial setup. As well, this program is published under the creative commons license allowing redistribution (with or without changes) as long as derivative works are published under the same licensing. It also allows you to use the program for commercial profit. That being said, if you own a large farm you likely know what you are doing with more powerful miners without GUI frontends (such as cgminer), and wouldn't want to add another possible point of failure to your network.
16.) How much overhead does this use? The wrapper uses very little overhead, and speeds are very similar to mining using only the commandline-based program. On my 5850, I usually get 310-312 kH/s on cgminer, with my wrapper I average 310kH/s, after it's had its warmup period (runs around 300 for 7 minutes then goes up to 310).
Video: YouTube VideoMore screenshots:
Downloads:Compiled Binaries (what you want if you aren't sure what you want):
Compiled BinarySource code:
Source Code Extra: If one reputable (>1000 post) member who knows Java would decompile the compiled binary and confirm that it's safe to use, I'll send them 25LTC.
